FAO INITIATES TÜRKİYE EARTHQUAKE RESPONSE AND RECOVERY PLAN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MoAF
Ankara – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF), has initiated a three-year Earthquake Response and Recovery Plan (ERRP), valued at USD 112 million. The Plan aims to address the needs of the agricultural sector with support to 700 000 rural individuals in the 11 provinces impacted by the earthquakes in February 2023.
The Plan builds on FAO’s contribution to the Türkiye Earthquakes Recovery and Reconstruction Assessment (TERRA) developed by the Strategy and Budget Office of the Presidency and a series of needs assessments conducted with the MoAF. The ERRP aims to sustain agricultural production and restore rural livelihoods in the provinces of Adana, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis, Malatya, Osmaniye and Şanlıurfa.
The Plan’s three outcomes focus on restoring agrifood systems, revitalizing the agriculture labour market and empowering rural communities. The ERRP integrates various approaches, including women’s empowerment, disaster risk reduction, Build Back Better, private sector engagement, and climate-smart and nature-based solutions.
The ERRP short-term actions prioritize the provinces hit hardest by the earthquake: Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya, while the medium-term plan encompasses all 11 provinces, focusing on immediate recovery needs specific to production patterns and seasonal timelines in each province. The longer-term strategy will promote sustainable rural development, women-led enterprises, climate-smart agriculture and community resilience.
Following the earthquakes, FAO and MoAF have continued to collaborate closely in assessing requirements in the agriculture sector while advocating for additional support. To address the urgent needs of rural communities, FAO is currently providing urgently required agricultural inputs to over 1 300 farmers and unconditional cash transfers to 7 720 rural community members, in order to maintain dairy, crop, fisheries and food processing production.
“As co-lead of the Food Security and Livelihoods Sector, FAO is committed to supporting the MoAF in mobilizing resources and coordinating with partners to restore the agricultural sector and recover rural livelihoods”, stated Viorel Gutu, FAO’s Subregional Coordinator for Central Asia and FAO Representative for Türkiye.
The ERRP document is available in both English and Turkish.